DAYS OF TERROR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17217, 7 December 1923, Page 6

DAYS OF TERROR.

1 KOREAN MASSACRES. V _ FRENZIED MOBS TAKE CHARGE. Hundreds of Koreans were murdered by members 6f the Japanese Young Men’s Associations during the few days after the earthquake and the fire when people were terror-stricken and order had not been restored, writes the Special, Commissioner in Tokio of the “ Sydney Herald.” These massacres took place at localities in the neighbourhood of the city of Tokio. At first, all these murders were thought to be the work of Socialists, but investigations have proved that the Socialists had no part in them, and that the crimes were perpetrated by halfcrazed members of the Young" Men’s Associations, who were terrorised by reports of the onslaught of the Korean mobs. The most pitiful story is that of seventeen Koreans who were ruthlessly killed in the Gumma prefecture, and who, according to the police, had been accorded every possible protection until an uncontrollable mob seized the unfortunates and kured them. A highly-placed official in the Japanese Foreign Office discussed the matter with the writer of these articles before the police report was published. The Japanese could not defend the massacres, said this official. ‘‘lf the world is critical,” he added, ” well, we must surrender, but 1 only ask you to reflect what might have happened in London, Ndw York, or any other o£ the cities of the world in similar circumstances, and with rumours filling the aij, not without Bom© foundation of truth, that tho Koreans themselves were committing outrages.” MOB SEIZED BY HYSTERIA. The ignorant fears of an unfortunate people had its most disastrous results in Yokohama, where, the polico declare, 150 Koreans were killed. NSV only Koreans were victims of the mob. In Tokio city alone thirteen Japanese men. who were mistaken for Koreans, shared the .fate of the latter. Tho evidence seems to be strong that, whatever hysteria seized the people in the mass, prompting the most absurd fears, the work of destruction was initiated by gangs of hooligans, selfstyled volunteer police, who attacked, not only the Koreans, but the police them selves:

According to the facts published in the Japanese newspapers, 432 Koreans were killed in the first days of September. Many Koreans committed acts of violence. On the evening of September 1 a Korean attacked refugees in Hon jo. As he was making off with his plunder he was arrested by the police. Late the same night a crowd of thirty Koreans looted a clothing store at Honjo and other shops, plundering with violence, and escaping. A Korean was arrested by 'the people in Kikugawacho. and on being searched thirty grams of arsenis were found upon him. He denied that it was poison, maintaining that it was salt. Thereupon lie was forced to swallow it, and he died a painful death. In South Katscuhika district four Koreans captured a young Japanese woman, and, having violated her, killed her and threw her body into the river. Other incidents of this character are included in the police report. MOB PSYCHOLOGY.

When the rurpours of the onslaughts of an army of Korean malcontents spread throughput the city, and on through the adjoining provinces, the inhabitants were ail dismayed. The young men of these localities, like those of the capital, were excited, and did what they thought njost expedient, at the moment. .Swayed by mob psychology, these young men saw red, and orjfne followed crime, each more ghastly than the last. ~ A gravel supply' company had among its labourers fourteen Koreans when the rumours of the oncoming Korean malcontents spread to the city of Fujioka, in Gumma Gumma prefecture. The manager of fhe company, tearing that injurymight befall his innocent employees* sought the aid of the Fujioka police station on September 3. He asked the police to care tor the Koreans.Tho Koreans, when* the position Mas explained to them, thanked him for bis thoughtfulness. The rumours of £he oncoming Koreans inflamed the young men of the toM'n into a high state of excitement. They knew that there were Koreans at the police station. and therefore demanded that they should be handed over to them. They maintained that the police might let them free. The police refused, but the pressure was strong, and eventually the police sergeant on duty stated that he must refer the matter to the chief of the station, who was absent. It was then about 6 p.m. The mob retorted that it had no time to wait, and smarted to ransack the station. In a'n effort to break through the cordon of only six police the men M'ere armed witli every conceivable weapon. One young man snatched a key from the police and unlocked the door. The Koreans who were confined escaped to the roof of the station,, but the pursuers brought a ladder and mounted the roof. A grim strugle took place on the roof, but the Koreans, having nothing whatever with which to protect themselves. were ultimateJv speared with bariiboo spear» or fired at from below. Within an hour and a half the fourteen Mere dead. The mob. which now now had a taste of blood, became frenzied. The police were onlookers of the affair, but M'ere powerless to do anything to prevent it. GHASTLY CRIMES. Ghastly crimes were perpetrated in Yokohama during the few cl=ys following the disaster. The number of Koreans killed reached 150. The residents of Yokohama. who were terror-stricken by the earthquake and the fire, were all the more frightened at the rumours that Koreans and Socialists wee engaged in some serious plot. The people believed the rumours, and the voluntary guards kept sleepless vigil for many nights. In the early hours of September 2, five Koreans and some Japanese were captured by the voluntary guards in the act of incendiarism at Sagiyama ;n Negishi, and they weje executed on the spot. About noon of the same day young men of Kuboyama and ITodogaya. who were armed to the teeth. captured mors than thirty Koreans and lynched thorn. The vigil pgainst Koreans was kept until September 10, and pistol shots were beard from all directions during the night. So- far the bodies of forty Koreans have been discovered, but it is believed that the number of these people killed in Yokohama, and its neighbourhood and thrown into canals and the. nen. vas about 150 More than thirty Japanese M'ere. also killed, having been mistaken for Koreans.